What is your typical day like?

This weeks show us how you live topic is, What is your typical day like? Well this fits perfectly into my new idea that I will share what life is like on a ranch. At home my day would go something like this; Get up around six, stumble to the kitchen table and listen to the weather (my parents have 300 channels and yet the weather is on five hours a day). Finally wake up enough to eat some breakfast, then get dressed. Dress would include long johns, heavy jeans, t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, sweater and heavy socks. Before going outside I would add carhart coveralls (except, sadly, mine are little kids and green since I'm so short) carhart coat, a silk scarf (mine are usually pink to keep the guys from stealing them), cotton gloves (they're easy to layer and switch out if they get wet) warm boots and a hat. Being short I look like a fat kid or a black and green marshmallow when I exit the house. First on the agenda outside is starting the feeding pickups to let them warm up. Then I would take care of any corral chores, such as chopping ice and feeding the old horse his grain for the morning. Feeding is next. I would select either the 1996 Dodge with the hay feeder on it or the 198? GMC with the cake feeder on it. I prefer the Dodge, but since both have a heater and a working radio I'm fine with either. Let's say I get in the GMC today. That would mean I would drive under the cake storage bin, and weigh 600 pounds of cake into the feeder (It sets on a scales so we can determine how much we're feeding everything). Then I would cruise a couple miles down the road to the Hitchcock pasture and feed our calves. These calves are almost one year old right now and are fed hay and cake every day. I would use a siren that sounds similar to those heard in cities to call the calves and believe me, you want to be ready to feed when you turn on the siren because here they come! Following that I would drive home and re-fill my feeder with another 600 pounds of cake, then drive about 5 miles to the Over East pasture to feed the sheep. They are a little trickier to find sometimes. They come to the siren if they can hear it but sheep travel a lot, so it's difficult to determine where they are in a pasture that is about 2 miles by 2 miles in size.
After finding and feeding them I would probably call the person feeding hay in the Dodge on our CB radio. There is no cell service within 50 miles of the ranch so most people use CB radios to communicate. We would determine who was checking water where. I would probably be checking the calves water since they are on my way back home. Water is a BIG deal to ranchers. I will have a post on it sometime. Since it's so cold I would probably have to chop ice with an ax, then use a shovel or pitchfork to scoop the ice chunks out of the tank. The entire time I am feeding I have the radio blaring and my camera (the nice one) sitting within reach in case a photographic moment presents itself, which is often. I would also most likely have a couple dogs with me and would be entertained by them as well. Upon returning home I would feed anything else around the house that needed cake, such as the bulls or other horses. Then I would return to the house to warm up and probably eat lunch. After lunch I would plan the rest of my day. In the winter I spend a lot of time working on pictures or helping my dad and brother. During the winter months the men spend a lot of time in their shop, working on various equipment, doing maintenance and repairs on our vehicles or designing and building new items. I might help them with something or be given a task by them in the afternoon. There are also the house chores such as laundry, cleaning and cooking supper to be done. Never a dull moment for sure. In the evening I would take a shower and watch House Hunters :) We would sit down as a family to eat dinner. We also eat lunch together and most of the time breakfast too. Dinner is eaten somewhere between six and eight depending on what's going on. After dinner we watch TV and I might read a book and will probably be in bed by ten at the latest. I would be physically exhausted and mentally rejuvenated, it's a wonderful feeling you can't explain to someone.

This is what we do

Cows trailing in to eat. The snow visible on their backs is a sign that they are in good shape and have a layer of fat protecting them. If they were thinner the snow would melt as more body heat escaped.



Reading Bell of the Blogs latest post got me thinking. As an individual who is knowledgeable about certain aspects of the agriculture industry, what can I do to provide accurate information to people who don't know about our great industry?
This lead me to the idea that I love reading about people whose lives are different than mine. Someone from Hawaii could write 300 words about sitting on the beach and I would be enthralled and take their every word to heart. With that in mind I have decided to explain what my family does daily on our ranch.
I have time to do this because I have a desk job these days. But I have spent the better part of my life at our ranch, and it's what I love to do, so sharing the experiences should be easy. Furthermore, if you happen upon my blog and don't know about ranching, this will be the real deal straight from someone whose family has been doing it for multiple generations. Feel free to leave comments, questions or ideas.
First a little background information. My family is from the most rural part of Wyoming, on the eastern side of the state. Lets just say it doesn't get much more remote than where I'm from and it's wonderful there. Our closest neighbors are 2 1/5 miles away cross country. If you have to drive to their place its about 5 miles. It is 56 miles to the closest high school and about 200 miles to a Starbucks, Walmart or hospital.
We raise commercial cattle that are mostly Angus with some black baldies. We also raise commercial Rambouillet sheep. Ultimately we market pounds of beef and sheep raised. We work hard every single day of the year to take care of our livestock, our land and the lifestyle we live.
This time of year we spend a lot of time feeding our animals because the snow and cold temperatures increase their nutritional requirements. We feed hay and cake (not the birthday variety, please scroll down on the link to see the photo and info.) to ensure livestock get enough protein and energy to meet their daily needs.
We have special feeders on pickups, the hay feeder looks like this, that are used to feed and the entire process takes from seven or eight in the morning until noon roughly. Sometimes it turns into an all day event if something unexpected happens. While feeding we also check water, fix water problems and chop ice. We observe the livestock to make sure they aren't getting too thin and that each one is healthy.
If there is a problem we determine a course of action, such as increasing how much we feed. Much as humans can count calories to lose or gain weight, we can monitor how many pounds each cow is eating and how much protein or energy is contained per pound of feed. We can make adjustments to her ration based on the weather, her body condition or if she is nursing a calf.
One of the things that really baffles me is how animal activist groups call ranchers hateful people who don't care for their animals. My family spends more time with our cattle and sheep each day than most people spend with their pet. My dad and I have been known to sit on a hillside for hours watching the cows trail in to the feed ground, commenting on each one and taking note of anything we aren't satisfied with. We even have cows we call "cake munchers" because they will eat right out of our hand.
We want them to be healthy and happy and work hard to ensure they are. If we don't take care of them they won't perform and we will go out of business. There are a multitude of reasons for us to care for our animals, and we do care for and about them.
More on winter ranching activities next time.

The Younger Brothers band

Yesterday I interviewed Chancey Williams and Travis DeWitt of the Younger Brothers Band. It was fun and since I am a true-blue Younger Brothers fan I was thrilled to visit with them.
I know, I know, I've seen them play more times then I can count and most of you probably have too. The shiny edge should be worn off them by now. But, the Casper band scene leaves a lot to be desired and with each passing week I have missed them more.
So last night I guilt-tripped the boss into coming to the Beacon with me on a Tuesday to listen for a while. All I have to say is that I can't wait until this weekend when there's someone to dance with!
It also reminded me of my college years...that makes it sound like they were a long time ago, which they weren't. Anyway, as they started their first number I was having serious flashbacks to the first street Cowboy Bar in Laramie. Much smaller, smokier and almost always packed. It was always fun when they played. It seems like everything has changed since then, which is a good thing for the most part.
But some things are the same, some of the good things. Much like Laramie I am sure I will run into random people I know this weekend at the Beacon (that's just part of the joy of living in Wyoming), at which point we will attempt to yell over the music for a while before giving up and enjoying our drinks. I'm pretty sure of this because I already have people facebooking, texting and calling me to ask if the Younger Brothers are in Casper this week, or to say they'll be here and will see me out.
There will be whiskey and dancing and even a Darryl Worley concert thrown in for the heck of it. Who knew Casper could provide so much entertainment? I know I was starting to doubt the town's ability to show someone a good time. I'm sure I will be giving an update after I recover. You can also catch the article in the March 5th Roundup**
**Disclaimer- I am in no way guaranteeing the story will be this particular edition. It's more of a rough estimate than set in stone.

Foriegn cows and steak

I have some time this morning while waiting for people to return my calls and emails. I am also ahead for the week (yay)!
I started this blog with the intention of it being fairly educational and the result has been almost purely my opinion. I have realized that after thinking up ideas, calling people, writing articles and editing the paper I've had about enough of informative writing.
Now that I have that off my chest...
The latest Happy California Cow commercial features "Canadian Kirsten." The California cows marvel at her perfect English and Kirsten mentions how thrilled she is to be a "Happy California Cow."
This bothers me, maybe I'm overreacting but didn't Canadian Holstein cows result in a lot of "Unhappy" California and U.S. cows in general? Uh, yes!
Canadian dairy cows infected with BSE have caused massive amounts of frustration and financial loss for U.S. cattle producers. The first case of BSE found in the U.S. was in Washington state and the cow traced back to Canadian origin. The resulting upset of the general public and lack of knowledge regarding BSE had detrimental effects on the beef industry. When the Canadian border was re-opened it lowered the price of U.S. Beef again.
We strive to produce the highest quality, safest beef product in the world and do a great job of it. I don't think having another Canadian dairy cow in California is going to improve beef or milk marketability. I also don't like the way they portrayed the Canadian dairy cow, especially in light of all the problems that have stemmed from "Canadian Kirsten's" in the past. I think the next California Cow should already be a U.S. cow.
On a more upbeat note, all the talk about beef makes me think of steak :) While Ribeye's are almost always great my personal favorite is the the Sirloin, grilled medium rare...mmm. You can really tell the quality of the animal by the flavor and tenderness of a Sirloin steak. This is the first thing my family samples when doing quality control on our latest beef.
For steak and other beef recipes click here or here.